Canadian Lionel Sanders and Aussie Sarah Crowley come from behind to become victorious at 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champs

PENTICTON, CANADA - Canada's own Lionel Sanders and Australia's Sarah Crowley earned the final world titles of the 10-day Mulitsport Festival by becoming the 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champions. 

Women’s Recap
Executing a phenomenal run performance in her first ITU long distance event of her career, Aussie Sarah Crowley was crowned victorious at the 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championship.
After batting a time deficit from being down in the swim and chasing a race leader for the entirety of the bike, Crowley bypassed the frontrunner in the second lap of the run to grab the excitedly grab the finish tape to seize her first-career world title.

“It is pretty unreal. I didn’t go into today expecting that at all, everything just went to plan other than falling over at the start of the swim. But I did have a good day though, I worked pretty hard after that, but yeah I had a good day and I am really happy,” Crowley said of her victory.

Coming in second place was Helle Frederiksen (DEN) who dominated the first two legs of the race before finally giving it up to Crowley in the run. Taking the final spot on the podium then went to Canadian Heather Wurtele, who battled hard for her position after a not-so successive swim

2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships - Women's Elite
27 Aug, 2017 • event page • all results
Results: Elite Women1.Sarah CrowleyAUS05:51:23
2.Helle FrederiksenDEN05:55:04
3.Heather WurteleCAN05:55:51
4.Kaisa SaliFIN06:01:16
5.Leanda CaveGBR06:04:44
6.Rachel McbrideCAN06:07:24
7.Camilla PedersenDEN06:07:46
8.Jen AnnettCAN06:10:44
9.Melissa HauschildtAUS06:13:01
10.Jennifer SpieldennerUSA06:14:46

Men’s Recap

With cheers of a home nation crowd, Canada’s own Lionel Sanders claimed victory to become the 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champion. Overcoming a large deficit from the swim and a flat tire on the bike, the Canadian delivered a come-from-behind performance to collect his first world honour of his career.

“That has got to be the hardest I have ever ran. Unfortunately I got a flat on the bike, the technical descent scared the crap out of me. I think it was a testament of two things: always carry a spare and second, it is not over until it is over.” Lionel said. “I like adversity. I don’t ask for it but it always seems to come for me. So I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to win this thing, with a flat tire and that became my motivation, so you can do a lot of things when you are highly motivated.”

Taking the silver medal was Joshua Amberger (AUS), who held the race lead for the majority of the competition. The bronze then went to another Aussie, Joe Gambles.

PENTICTON, CANADA - Canada's own Lionel Sanders and Australia's Sarah Crowley earned the final world titles of the 10-day Mulitsport Festival by becoming the 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champions. 

Women’s Recap
Executing a phenomenal run performance in her first ITU long distance event of her career, Aussie Sarah Crowley was crowned victorious at the 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championship.
After batting a time deficit from being down in the swim and chasing a race leader for the entirety of the bike, Crowley bypassed the frontrunner in the second lap of the run to grab the excitedly grab the finish tape to seize her first-career world title.
“It is pretty unreal. I didn’t go into today expecting that at all, everything just went to plan other than falling over at the start of the swim. But I did have a good day though, I worked pretty hard after that, but yeah I had a good day and I am really happy,” Crowley said of her victory.
Coming in second place was Helle Frederiksen (DEN) who dominated the first two legs of the race before finally giving it up to Crowley in the run. Taking the final spot on the podium then went to Canadian Heather Wurtele, who battled hard for her position after a not-so successive swim
Click here for the full women's review
 
2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships - Women's Elite
27 Aug, 2017 • event page • all results
Results: Elite Women1.Sarah CrowleyAUS05:51:23
2.Helle FrederiksenDEN05:55:04
3.Heather WurteleCAN05:55:51
4.Kaisa SaliFIN06:01:16
5.Leanda CaveGBR06:04:44
6.Rachel McbrideCAN06:07:24
7.Camilla PedersenDEN06:07:46
8.Jen AnnettCAN06:10:44
9.Melissa HauschildtAUS06:13:01
10.Jennifer SpieldennerUSA06:14:46

Men’s Recap
With cheers of a home nation crowd, Canada’s own Lionel Sanders claimed victory to become the 2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Champion. Overcoming a large deficit from the swim and a flat tire on the bike, the Canadian delivered a come-from-behind performance to collect his first world honour of his career.
“That has got to be the hardest I have ever ran. Unfortunately I got a flat on the bike, the technical descent scared the crap out of me. I think it was a testament of two things: always carry a spare and second, it is not over until it is over.” Lionel said. “I like adversity. I don’t ask for it but it always seems to come for me. So I thought, wouldn’t it be cool to win this thing, with a flat tire and that became my motivation, so you can do a lot of things when you are highly motivated.”
Taking the silver medal was Joshua Amberger (AUS), who held the race lead for the majority of the competition. The bronze then went to another Aussie, Joe Gambles.


2017 Penticton ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships - Men's Elite
27 Aug, 2017 • event page • all results
Results: Elite Men1.Lionel SandersCAN05:20:36
2.Joshua AmbergerAUS05:22:09
3.Joe GamblesAUS05:26:23
4.Andy PottsUSA05:27:25
5.Drew ScottUSA05:32:19
6.Francisco SerranoMEX05:36:05
7.Jeff SymondsCAN05:37:08
8.Mark BuckinghamGBR05:38:48
9.Paul AmbroseAUS05:40:56
10.Nathan KillamCAN05:43:36